TWO York church schools have taken the first official steps to converting to academy status under the Government’s controversial free schools flagship policy.

Both Archbishop Holgate C of E School and Manor C of E School are among 153 schools nationwide that put in applications before the end of the school year to opt out of local authority control, according to the Department of Education.

The move could see both schools becoming independent of local authority control by the end of the next school term. The Government expects the conversion process to take about three months on average.

Both were ranked “outstanding” in their latest Ofsted inspections and were in the list of 1,000 plus schools that said they were interested in the proposals when Education Secretary Michael Gove unveiled the plans earlier this year. The news broke just days after the Academies Act, which makes the conversion possible, became law on Tuesday.

If the two schools succeed in their bids, their management will be able to set their own pay levels and working conditions. But first they have to convince Mr Gove they are suitable candidates. He has said he expects that schools rated “outstanding” will get approval, unless they have financial difficulties.

Chosen schools will have to arrange funding including agreements over leasing or ownership of the school’s buildings and land and register with Companies House before winning the final go-ahead.

Three other York secondary schools expressed interest in converting in June: Fulford School, Burnholme College and Huntington School. None of them had submitted an application by the end of the summer term. No schools in North or East Yorkshire had submitted applications by the end of last week.

Critics of the Academies Act claim it will lead to a divisive education system.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said during the Act’s passage through Parliament it would “grant greater autonomy to individual schools, give more freedom to teachers and inject a new level of dynamism into a programme that has been proven to raise standards for all children”.

Shadow Education Secretary Ed Balls feared the changes would lead to “social apartheid” in education, describing them as “the most profoundly unfair piece of social engineering in this generation”.


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